■'iVr''  i' 
iil'i'i'iil'i'l 

viiil'iiiiili; 
'.III,;  /'i|'ii' 


^J^n 


THE 

GATE 
BEAUTIFUL 


PRINCIPLES  AND  METHODS 

IN  VITAL-ART   AND 
EDUCATION 


By 
Prof.  John  Ward  Stimson 

Graduate  of  Yale,  and  The  National  Art  Academy  of  France. 
Formerly  Educat'l  Director  "N.  Y.  Metropolitan  Museum  of  Arts"; 
The  N.  Y.  "Artist-Artisan"  Inst.;  State  "Art  ca.  Science"  Inst., 
Trenton,  N.  J.;  Art  Professor  or  Lecturer  at  Princeton,  Cornell, 
Columbia    and  other  leading   Colleges,   Museums   and   Schools 


AN  HI^TQRi'JO :'i^:Eiri^p ^'Jl,Nn 
SVMPdS/UMbti  Hh'Life  and  Im- 
portant Work  by  Eminent  Publicists  and 
Educators,  Including;  Gov.  Joshua 
Chamberlain  of  Maine,  Prof.  Raymond 
of  Princeton  University,  Edwin 
Markham,  Joaquin  Miller,  Rev.  Dr. 
Heber  Newton  of  N.  Y.,  Editor  B.  O. 
Flower,  Etc. 


(reprinted    from    the    arena     magazine) 


.3  >< 


& 

o 

05 


Ik 


8      02 

1*1 


A? 


ARENA  MAGAZINE 

ARTICLE 

ON 

Prof.  John  Ward  Stimson 

An  Artist,  Author  and  Educator 
With  Twentieth  Century  Ideas 


I. 

"Art-for-Art's-sake  may  be  very  fine,  but  Art-for-Progress 
is  finer  still.  To  dream  of  castles  in  Spain  is  well ;  to  dream  of 
Utopia  is  better.  *  *  *  Some  pure  lovers  of  art  *  *  *  discard  the 
formula,  'Art-for-Progress,'  the  Beautiful-Useful,  fearing  lest 
the  useful  should  deform  the  beautiful.  They  tremble  to  see  the 
drudge's  hand  attached  to  the  muse's  arm.  According  to  them 
the  ideal  may  become  perverted  by  too  much  contact  with  real- 
ity. They  are  solicitous  for  the  sublime  if  it  descends  as  far  as 
to  humanity.  Ah;  they  are  in  error!  The  useful,  far  from  cir- 
cumscribing the  sublime,  enlarges  it.  *  *  *  Is  Aurora  less  splen- 
did, clad  less  in  purple  and  emerald ;  suffers  she  any  diminution 
of  majesty  and  radiant  grace — because  foreseeing  an  insect's 
thirst,  she  carefully  secretes  in  the  flower  the  dewdrop  needed 
by  the  bee?" — "William  Shakespeare,"  by  Victor  Hugo. 

The  Needs  of  the  people  are  greater  and  more  complex  to- 
day than  at  any  previous  period  in  history.  A  full  stomach  no 
longer  suffices  for  the  toiler.  Thanks  to  the  printing-press  and 
the  freedom  inaugurated  by  the  Reformation  and  carried  for- 
ward by  the  great  revolutions  of  the  last  one  hundred  and 
twenty-five  years,  the  millions  now  demand  food  for  the  Imagi- 
nation and  for  the  Intellect.  The  Lighter  Side  of  Life  must  be 
ministered  to — not  of  a  life,  not  of  the  life  of  a  class  or  of  a  priv- 
ileged few,  but  of  All  the  People. 

In  earlier  periods  the  vast  majority  of  all  nations  were  piti- 
fully ignorant.  Their  narrow  little  lives  were  lived  much  as  are 
those  of  the  lower  animals.  The  great  masters  in  art,  music, 
and  literature  were  usually  the  "pensioners"  of  the  Crown,  of 


rich  nobles,  or  oi  an  "opulent"  Church;  but  for  the  millions  the 
rare  pleasure  ihat  conies  from  an  awakened  Imagination  and 
a  schooled  Brain  was  unknown.     Now  all  is  changed.  Education 
has   become   widely   diffused   throughout   Western   civilization. 
Contact  with  Music,  Art,  the  Drama,  and  Literature  has  quick- 
ened the  dull  imagination  of  millions  of  toilers,  who  now  hunger 
for  more  than  bread ;  and  with  this  broadening  of  the  intellectu- 
al vision,  this  awakening  of  the  soul,  and  this  appreciation  of  the 
finer  things  of  life,  comes  the  more  illumination    of    the    real 
Leaders  of  civilization — the    men    and    women    of    Ideals — the 
Advance-guard  who  through  all  ages  have  blazed  the  pathway  of 
progress.     And  these  leaders  are  appealing  to  the  conscience  of 
the  world  to  recognize  the  next  great  basic  truth  of  human  ad- 
vancement, which  society  must  necessarily  accept  before  further 
lasting  progress  can  be  made — the   Brotherhood  of  man,  with 
all  that  the  term  implies.     They  insist  that  the  demands  wdiich 
the  Larger-Life  of  the  people  calls  for  be  promptly  met.     It  is 
not  enough  that  all  men  have  work  to  do  that  shall  enable  them 
to  eat  and  sleep  in  comfort.    The  hunger  and  the  thirst  of  Mind 
and  Soul  must  be  appeased.     And  thus  we  find  the  twentieth 
century  leaders  in  every  department  of  endeavor  working  for 
the  enrichment  of  the  life  of  all.     Victor  Hugo  said:  "No  one 
can  forsee  the  quantity  of  light  that  will  be  evolved  by  placing 
the    people    in    communication  with    men    of    genius.        The 
combination  of  the  heart  of  the  people  with  the  heart  of  the 
poet  will  be  the  voltaic  pile  of  civilization."     And  what  is  true 
of  the  influence  of  the  poet  is  equally  true  of  the  influence  of 
art  on  the  mind  and  life  of  man.     It  is  important  that  the  eyes 
of  the  soul,  of  every  toiler,  be  opened  to    the    Beauty-side    of 
Nature,  and  that  the  art  spirit  be  so  cultivated  that  Beauty  will 
be  lured  into  every  home — an  angel  of  joy  whose  influence  refines, 
exalts,  and  dignifies  the  humblest  cot.     Here,  then,  is  a  fruitful 
field  for  the  Prophet-of-progress  and  the  apostle  of  Humanity; 
and  here  we  find  pioneer  souls  have  already  entered.     In  Eng- 
land John  Ruskin  and  William  Morris  wrought  a  splendid  work : 
and  in  this  country  a  labor  quite  as  commanding  and  important, 
though   less   widely   heralded,   has   been   achieved   through    the 
effective  and  persistent  labor  of  Prof.  John  Ward  Stimson.     He 
is  a  real  representative  of  the  Brotherhood-of-the-New-Day ! 

II. 

Professor  Stimson  was  born  into  a  New  York  home  several 
decades  ago.  Those  who  believe  in  hereditary  influences  will 
find  in  his  life  confirmatory  proof  of  their  contentions.  His  fath- 
er was  of  Scotch  and  Puritan  descent — a  sturdy  man.  possessing 
that  strong  moral  fiber  that  marked  tlie  great  ethical  protest 

2 


which  ciihninated  in  the  Reformation,  and  which  at  a  later  day 
made  New  England  a  powerful  factor  in  the  world's  great  strug- 
gle for  liberty  and  a  higher  standard  of  life  than  had  prevailed. 
His  parental  grandfather  had  devoted  his  life  to  missionary 
work  in  the  mountain  regions  of  New  York.  His  mother  was  a 
granddaughter  and  grandniece  of  the  eminent  Huguenot  broth- 
ers, Elisha  and  Elias  Boudinot,  who  were  famous  jurists  and 
prominent  Revolutionary  patriots,  sharing  the  confidence  of 
Washington  and  the  Continental  Congress  ;the  former  signing 
the  treaty  of  peace  with  Great  Britain  as  President-of-the-Con- 
gress  when  the  war  closed. 

It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  a  large  proportion  of  the  most 
virile  and  versatile  among  our  leading  men  and  women  carry  in 
their  veins  the  mingled  blood  of  nations  or  races  of  markedly 
dissimiliar  character.  Robert  Browning,  for  example,  inherited 
from  his  ancestors  English,  Scotch,  German,  and  Creole  blood: 
and  Professor  Stimson,  as  will  be  seen,  was  of  Puritan,  Scotch, 
and  Huguenot  descent.  Whether  blood  tells  or  not,  certain  it  is 
that  the  noble  traditions  of  moral  heroism  that  light  up  the 
pages  of  a  family  history  exert  a  very  marked  influence  for  good 
on  the  plastic  mind  of  the  child,  if  his  early  environment  is  nor- 
mal or  favorable  to  the  development  of  moral  enthusiasm. 

HI. 

A\'hen  his  preparatory  education  was  ended,  Professor 
Stimson  entered  Yale  College,  carrying  with  him  that  enthus- 
iasm for  Humanity  and  that  high  ethical  fervor  which  is  fre- 
quently found  among  the  freshmen  in  our  universities;  and. 
happily  for  the  world,  his  scholastic  training  failed  to  dampen 
his  ardor  or  develop  a  spirit  of  cynical  unconcern  for  others, 
which  is  too  frequently  a  blighting  influence  of  the  modern  col- 
lege and  its  environment. 

He  graduated  from  Yale,  and  shortly  after  leaving 
college  sailed  for  Europe  to  perfect  his  Art  education ;  for  he 
had  determined  to  devote  his  life  to  the  advancement  of  Art 
culture  in  the  New  World.  He  first  entered  the  National  French 
Academy-of-Art,  at  Paris,  from  which,  after  graduating,  he 
journeyed  forth  to  study  art  and  the  art  situation  in  the  great 
centers  of  continental  Europe  and  Great  Britain.  During  this 
period,  being  of  a  philosophic  turn  of  mind,  he  gave  much  time 
and  thought  to  the  historic  evolution  of  art  and  to  its  vital  un- 
derlying Principles  and  Methods.  After  an  absence  of  six  years 
he  returned  to  America  with  mind  aflame  with  the  idea  of  furth- 
ering in  our  Republic  a  vigorous  Original  Art,  which  should  l)e 
democratic  in  influence,  reaching  and  awakening  an  apprecia- 
tion and  love  of  the  Beautiful  in  the  hearts  of  our  millions.     He 

3 


knew  that  true  art  wielded  a  magic  influence  over  the  imagina- 
tion of  man;  that  it  refined,  exalted,  and  enriched  life,  and 
ijrought  those  who  truly  came  en  rapport  with  it  into  intimate 
communion  with  the  Master-Artist  and  Workman  of  the  Uni- 
verse. He  realized  what  all  "master-artists,"  from  the  Golden 
Age  of  Hellas  unto  the  present,  have  well  understood — that 
nothing  fosters  Joy-in-Labor  like  the  possession  of  the  Art- 
Spirit,  and  the  opportunity  adequately  to  express  it  in  Work; 
or  at  least  to  have  its  expression  blossoming  around  the  worker. 
In  modern  times,  and  especially  in  the  New  World,  art  has  been 
for  the  most  part  enjoyed  by  a  rich  and  favored  few.  Its  mar- 
velous influence  in  developing  the  Spiritual-Side  of  man,  and 
giving  to  life  that  indefinable  satisfaction  and  joy  known  to  us 
only  after  we  had  been  trained  to  see  and  feel  the  beauty  in 
Nature  and  in  the  creative  work  of  man,  was  a  sealed  book  to 
the  majority  of  artisans,  and  indeed  to  most  of  our  people.  Art. 
Professor  Stimson  contended,  should  be  democratic  instead  of 
exclusive.  Every  child  of  God  should  be  so  educated  as  to  en- 
joy the  Beauty  that  floods  the  w^orld,  and  he  should  be  so  imbued 
wtih  the  art  Spirit  that  he  would  carry  it  into  his  life's  work. 

Besides  and  beyond  this  right  of  every  citizen  in  a  republic 
to  enjoy  the  refining  influence  of  an  Imagination  trained  to  ap- 
preciate Beauty,  Professor  Stimson  saw  with  the  clear  vision  of 
a  philosophic  statesman  that  a  broad  and  comprehensive  Indus- 
trial-Art-Education would  be  of  inestimable  commercial  value  to 
our  country.  This  fact  France.  Germany,  and  other  Old  World 
nations  have  long  appreciated  and  they  have  endowed  and 
multiplied  their  schools  for  Industrial  Art.  They  have  fostered 
Artist-Artisanship  by  giving  rich  prizes  for  superior  designs  and 
original  conceptions  of  beauty.  They  have  furnished  in  all  their 
larger  cities  noble  art  collections  and  specimens  of  beautiful 
handiwork,  while  seeing  to  it  that  the  attention  of  the  children 
has  been  systematically  called  to  the  marvelous  Beauty  of  the 
artist-artisanship  of  God. 

Even  little  Japan,  the  Greece  of  modern  times,  has  not  been 
slow  to  appreciate  the  commercial  as  w^ell  as  the  religious  and 
ethical  value  of  the  democratizing  of  Art ;  and  perhaps  no  na- 
tion today  is  doing  more  to  encourage  its  people  to  study  the 
beauty  of  Nature, — "the  azure  from  above,  whence  falls  the 
ray  which  swells  the  wheat,  yellows  the  maize,  rounds  the  apple, 
and  gilds  the  orange," — that  art  which  purples  the  grape  and 
tints  the  morning  sky,  wdiich  glistens  in  the  dew-drop  and  wakes 
to  Beauty  in  rose  and  lily!  The  Japanese  encourage  their  peo- 
ple to  turn  from  absorption  in  sordid,  prosaic,  and  materialistic 
commercialism    and    behold   DEITY    come    to    earth    in    the 

4 


Beanty-of-Natiire.  There  are  certain  days  in  spring  when  the 
population  of  cities,  towns,  and  villages  repairs  to  the  country 
to  behold  the  cherry-trees  clothed  in  glory,  and  the  wisteria  vine 
— a  vision  of  beauty,  a  haunting  dream  of  pure  delight  that 
lives  in  the  vivid  imagination  of  the  sight-seer  long  after  he  has 
returned  to  his  home.  And  from  these  studies  of  Nature  and 
the  contemplation  of  the  Master  Artist-Artisan  at  his  work,  the 
Japanese  turn  to  their  labors  with  minds  aglow  with  Beauty ; 
and  into  their  toil  they  weave  the  loveliness  that  lingers  in  the 
brain,  wdiich  the  Western  world  gladly  buys,  to  the  immense 
enrichment  of  the  land  of  the  Mikado. 

And  while  Europe  and  Japan  are  thus  engaged  in  utilizing 
art  industrially,  to  their  enormous  gain,  America  is  neglecting 
the  vital  work.  We  have  been  like  the  man  who  once  found  a 
gold  piece  in  the  mire,  and  wdio  ever  afterward  went  through 
life  with  eyes  riveted  on  the  ground,  in  the  hope  of  finding  more 
gold.  As  Professor  Stimson  said  on  one  occasion,  "We  have 
destroyed  our  national  character  by  the  gluttony  and  greed  of 
raw  material,  left  to  raw  ideals  and  animal  appetites;  till  the 
very  plague  has  undermined  social  and  political  life,  and  the 
very  ''Church"  itself." 

IV. 
To  awaken  our  people  to  the  importance  of  Democratic 
Art  became  the  overmastering  concern  of  Professor  Stimson. 
on  his  return  to  the  Republic ;  after  his  six  years  spent  in  the 
study  of  Art  in  the  great  centers  of  Europe.  He  first  accepted 
an  invitation  to  lecture  at  Princeton  College,  and  from  this  posi- 
tion he  w^as  called  to  direct  the  art  educational  work  of  the 
New  York  Metropolitan-Museum-of-Art.  Subsequently  for 
several  years  he  was  actively  engaged  in  organizing  on  broad 
lines,  and  successfully  building  up,  practical  courses  that  soon 
became  immensely  popular.  He  laid  special  stress  on  the  Ap- 
plication of  art  to  industry;  and  under  his  splendid  direction  and 
oversight  many  hundreds  of  young  men  were  trained  to  suc- 
cessful careers.  It  is  not  strange  that  the  enthusiasm  of  the 
teacher  became  contagious,  or  that  his  work  aroused  a  degree 
of  interest  not  before  known  in  Art-Instruction  in  America.  His 
labors  differed  radically  from  those  of  the  ordinary  instructors, 
in  that  his  broad  and  complete  grasp  of  the  underlying  Princi- 
ples, upon  which  true  methods  depend,  enabled  him  to  appeal 
to  the  reason  and  philosophic  side  of  life;  while  stimulating  and 
awakening  the  Spiritual  energies  in  the  student;  thus  making 
him  feel  that  witchery  which  the  poet  and  artist  nature  only 
knows  wdien  profoundly  stirred  by  Beauty  that  appeals  to  all 
the  Higher  faculties  of  Being.     Professor  Stimson  also  insisted 

5 


on  letting  the  natural  bent,  taste,  and  aptitude  of  each  pupil 
determine  the  special  branch  of  work ;  for  he  understood  enough 
of  human  nature  to  know  that  only  in  this  way  could  the  best 
results  be  obtained;  and  he  had  also  observed  that  this  true 
Spirit  had  ever  prevailed  in  the  great  art  epochs  of  history. 
Under  his  directorship  the  growth  of  the  art  classes  was 
phenomenal.  From  a  few  students  and  two  or  three  depart- 
ments, the  School  increased  until  it  numbered  hundreds  of 
scholars;  with  more  than  a  dozen  instructors,  in  principles, 
form,  color,  light,  composition,  technique,  construction,  carving, 
cabinet  work,  architecture,  sculpture,  metal  work,  jewelry, 
etching,  illustration,  decoration  for  walls,  ceilings,  ceramics, 
stained  glass,  stencils,  silks,  and  textiles  generally;  with  the  ad- 
vanced work  of  portraiture,  landscape,  and  "life-model"  work. 

The  one  serious  drawback  to  the  full  success  of  the  great 
work  was  found  in  the  lack  of  hearty  official  co-operation  from 
certain  rich  but  "dilettanti"  members  of  the  Museum  board. 
Their  attitude  led  to  a  vigorous  protest  on  the  part  of  Professor 
Stimson,  following  which  he  withdrew  from  his  position  in  the 
Museum,  and  having  become  thoroughly  convinced  that  he 
could  build  up  a  far  greater  and  more  beneficent  work  untram- 
meled  by  those  who  believed  that  art  should  be  "exclusive"  in- 
stead of  "democratic,"  and  who  favored  imitating  or  borrowing 
from  the  Old  World  rather  than  developing  a  vigorous,  inde- 
pendent, and  original  movement  in  America. 

Some  time  previous  to  his  withdrawal  he  had  coined  the 
hyphenated  term  "Artist-artisanship"  as  best  illustrating  'the 
idea  for  which  he  was  striving;  and  he  now  founded  the  Artist- 
Artisan-Institute  in  New  York.  The  movement  thus  set  afoot 
inthe  Western  world  was  for  original  national  Art-Develop- 
ment, and  toward  genuine  self-culture,  self-expression,  and  self- 
defense  in  Industry.  It  will  be  seen  that  in  this  work  Professor 
Stimson  was  giving  practical  expression  to  theories  and  ideals 
similar  to  those  that  William  Morris  was  working  out  in  Eng- 
land; though  he  was  at  the  time  unacquainted  with  the  British 
poet,  artist,  and  social  dreamer's  work  in  this  direction.  In 
speaking  to  me  of  the  founding  of  the  Artist-Artisan  Institute 
Professor  Stimson  said: 

"I  appealed  to  all  'patriotic  practical  firms'  to  stand  by  an 
Institute  founded  expressly  to  unite  Art  and  Industry  upon  a 
generous  democratic  basis,  for  specifically  American  national 
character,  experience,  genius,  taste,  and  material  applications, 
as  distinct  from  petty  and  narrow  poses  in  foreign  plumes,  or 
dependence  on  importing  speculation.     I  wanted  especially  to 

6 


open  the  public  eye  to  their  own  rich  natural  and  national  en- 
dowments and  sources  of  inspiration;  to  train  up  the  young  to 
recognize  and  apply  immortal  elements  of  Beauty  everywhere, 
and  cardinal  Principles  of  good  taste,  selection,  adaptation,  etc., 
that  applied  indefinitely  on  all  materia ;  showing  them  the  road 
to  sincere  personality,  native  character  and  style,  organic  lines 
of  Nature  knowledge  and  method;  New  World  culture  and  in- 
spiration ;  so  as  to  break  the  yoke  of  blind  mimicry,  affectation 
and  fad,  foreign  mannerism,  and  dilettante  pose. 

"I  met,  of  course,  the  sharp  opposition  of  all  elements  in 
any  wise  opposed  to  such  "national"  independence  in  vital  edu- 
cation :  the  mechanical  'copy-book'  trusts  (whose  special  plunder 
was  the  innocent  and  ignorant  public  schools) ;  the  importers 
who  cried  foreign  wares ;  the  idle  and  affected  dilettanti  ele- 
ment who  'played  with  art'  only  as  a  pleasant  social  pose  or 
back  parlor  preserve,  and  'objected  to  its  popularization;'  and 
especially  the  speculative  and  ephemeral,  who  view  art  as  a 
dextrous  'technical  trick'  or  'craze'  by  which  to  catch  pennies 
or  a  fleeting  self-advertisement. 

"But  time  told.  The  Museum  awoke  too  late  to  the  wrong 
they  had  done!  In  spite  of  desperate  eft'orts,  their  fine  school 
of  hundreds  went  all  to  pieces  in  three  years,  and  they  gave  it  up 
— the  students  having  fled  to  the  new  movement!  So  for  thir- 
teen years  the  work  went  broadly  and  successfully  on  upon  ever 
more  wide  and  independent  lines;  drawing  forth  from,  and  re- 
turning to  all  the  States  hundreds  of  young  people  prepared  to 
disseminate  and  reapply  the  educational  and  artistic  principles 
taught  them, 

"Credit  must  be  given  to  many  noble  men  and  women  who 
rallied  zealously  to  our  aid  during  those  long  years ;  like  George 
Jones  of  the  New  York  Times,. who  stood  long  and  manfully  by 
me  till  his  death ;  as  did  his  assistant  editors,  Messrs.  Parrish 
and  DeKay.  General  Joshua  Chamberlain  (ex-governor  of 
Maine  and  former  president  of  Bowdoin  College)  joined  the 
active  committee,  with  the  Rev.  Heber  Newton,  Horace  Fair- 
child  of  the  silk  guild,  and  others.  Leading  educators,  like  Dr. 
Hailmann,  United  States  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs  and 
head  of  the  Kindergarten  Association,  and  leading  artists,  like 
William  Hamilton  Gibson,  Olin  Warner,  Candace  Wlieeler, 
Walter  Shirlaw,  Curran,  Ruckstuhl,  etc.,  did  yeoman  service; 
and  most  of  the  artistic  and  far-seeing  firms,  like  Tiffany,  Gor- 
ham.  Cottier,  Cheney  Brothers,  etc.,  assisted  financially." 

As  anticipated  by  its  founder,  the  school  soon  became  a 
great  Success.     The  broad,  free,  and  enthusiastic  spirit  of  Pro- 

7 


fessor  Stimson  permeated  the  Institute.  The  scholars  became 
infected,  as  it  were,  and  threw  into  the  work  that  ardor  and 
passionate  love  which  are  essential  to  the  grandest  results.  It 
would  be  impossible  adequately  to  estimate  the  influence  it  ex- 
erted on  the  nation,  through  the  young  people  going  forth 
aflame  with  love  of  art  to  scatter  abroad  the  lessons  they  had 
imbibed  in  all  parts  of  the  land,  founding  schools,  entering  edu- 
cational institutions,  and  furthering  the  practical  work  in  hun- 
dreds of  fields. 

After  thirteen  years  of  constant  application,  the  health  of 
the  earnest  and  tireless  teacher  gave  way.  He  was  taken  with 
severe  illness  and  had  to  seek  perfect  quiet  in  the  Adirondack 
mountains.  Nature  and  rest  restored  his  health,  and,  in  response 
to  an  invitation  from  Trenton,  New  Jersey,  he  accepted  the  di- 
rectorship of  the  Art-and-Science-Institute  of  that  city;  and  here 
the  same  work  along  the  same  lines  as  that  formerly  accom- 
plished in  New  York,  but  which  his  illness  closed  there,  is  be- 
ing successfully  renewed.  In  addition  to  this  Professor  Stimson 
has  recently  greatly  enlarged  and  elaborated  a  work  of  immense 
value,  an  outline  of  which  w^as  prepared  some  years  ago,  deal- 
ing with  "The  Principles  and  Methods  in  Vital- Art-Education." 
This  work,  from  wdiat  I  know  of  it,  will  aid  materially  in  foster- 
ing an  interest  in  an  Original  and  Vital  Art  work  in  America. 

Professor  Stimson  is,  in  the  truest  sense,  a  man  of  Twen- 
tieth Century  Ideals.  He  possesses  the  passionate  hatred  of 
oppression  and  injustice,  and  the  Love-of-Liberty  which  marked 
in  so  eminent  a  degree  his  ancestors  on  both  sides  of  his  fam- 
ily; and  he  also  appreciates  the  Newer  and  Broader  implications 
that  have  come  with  the  advance  of  civilization.  At  times  the 
wrongs  of  conventional  society,  of  Church  and  State,  call  from 
his  pen  some  burning  protest,  sometimes  in  prose,  sometimes  in 
verse,  but  always  breathing  forth  the  spirit  of  a  man  who  has 
dared  and  suffered  much  for  the  rights  and  happiness  of  others. 
A  short  time  ago,  when  the  Russian  church  excommunicated 
Count  Tolstoi,  and  the  State  (the  subservient  tool  of  the 
Church)  refused  to  allow  the  Count's  picture  to  be  publicly  ex- 
hibited. Professor  Stimson  penned  the  following  thoroughly 
characteristic  lines  (dedicated  to  Tolstoi) : 


TO  CAIAPHAS. 
I  care  not  a  coin  for  yonr  crown ! 

Ye  priests  of  the  science  of  "self." 
AA'ith  phylacteries  falling  low  down, 

But  yonr  prayers  and  your  poses  for  pelf! 
Ye  climb  to  your  steeples  so  high, 
Yet  mock  at  the  heroes — who  die ! 

I  care  not  a  coin  for  your  blame ! 

Ye  drones  that  lay  burdens  so  vast 
Upon  Life — with  its  rapture  and  flame  ; — • 
Yet  out  of  your  temples  it  cast ! 

I  gladly  haste  forth  from  your  wall 
To  find  Mercy  and  Beauty  for  all! 

Ye  trees  that  are  "barren  of  figs," 

While  ye  rustle  and  flutter  your  leaves ! 
I  fly  from  your  concourse  of  prigs 
To  gather  Life's  sacredest  sheaves. 
"Ye  neither  pass  in  at  The  Gate, 
Nor  suffer  the  sad" — that  there  wait  1 

Go,  gather  your  harvest  of  dust. 

And  whitewash  your  charnel  of  bones  I 
Go,  heap  up  your  wealth,  if  ye  must, 
And  pile  up  your  crumbling  stones. 

Build  houses  "till  there  be  no  room" — 
They  shall  fall  at  the  first  crack  of  Doom! 

I  care  not  a  coin  for  your  pride, — 
It  is  false,  it  is  barren  and  drear! 
It  is  waste  that  is  washed  by  the  tide ! 
It  is  chaff — when  the  harvest  is  sere  ! 

Let  me  live — let  me  love — till  the  last! 

I  will  still  live  and  love — when  all's  past ! 

To  Professor  Stimson  the  Unity-of-Life  and  the  Brother- 
hood-of-AIan  are  splendid  facts,  which  bear  with  them  august 
duties  for  the  individual  and  the  State.  He  realizes  that  CO- 
OPERATION is  the  ke3mote  of  twentieth-century  progress; 
that  justice,  freedom,  and  loving  fellowship  must  pervade  the 
oncoming  generation  if  civilization  is  to  suffer  no  eclipse.  His 
love  of  Art  is  great,  but  it  is  because  he  feels  that  Art  is  the 
handmaid  of  progress,  happiness,  and  spiritual  development.  He 
demands  that  each  child  of  earth  shall  have  the  same  rights  to 
ask  for  himself,  and  shall  be  led  into,  the  enjoyment  of  the 
ampler  life  which  (through  progressive  changes)  has  now  for 
the  first  time  been  made  possible  on  earth.     He  is  a  child  of  the 

9 


Xew  Time — a  worthy  representative  of  the  chosen  torch-bearers 
of  the  ages,  who  have  ever  been  ready  to  sacrifice  personal  com- 
fort, ease,  and  even  health  and  life,  for  the  enlargement  and  en- 
richment of  the  common  lot,  and  for  the  furtherance  of  the  hap- 
piness and  elevation  of  all  the  people! 

"Such  earnest  natures  are  the  fiery  pith. 

The  compact  nucleus,  round  which  systems  grow! 

Mass  after  mass  becomes  inspired  therewith. 
And  whirls  impregnate  with  the  central  glow." 

B.  O.  FOWLER,  Editor. 
Boston,  Mass. 


ON  THE  STOA  OF  THE  TWENTIETH  CENTURY. 
ETHICAL  AND  UTILITARIAN  VALUE  OF  VITAL  ART. 

O.     Professor  Stimson,  as  the  man  perhaps  of  all  men  in 
America,  best  qualified  intelligently  to  discuss  the  artist-artisan 
movement  and  the  influence  of  art — true  Art — on  the  minds  of 
the  humble  workers ;  I  desire  to  obtain  for  our  readers  your 
views  on  this  Vital  question.     How  did  you  happen  to  interest 
yourself  in  the  Art  educational  field,  and  wdiy  did  you  devote 
your  university-trained  forces  to  the  more  democratic  side  of  it? 
A.     I  suppose  we  are  providentially  born  or  driven  to  our 
life  roles  when  we  do  not  deliberately  obstruct  Intuitions.     My 
one  credit,  perhaps,  is  that  I  heard  a  "still,  small  Voice"  cry 
within  my  conscience,  "Whom  shall  I  send  on  a  hard  journey  of 
educational  uplifting  to  American  labor?"    And  I  dared  not  hold 
back  my  little.     I  owe  much  to  old  Puritan  ancestral  conviction 
of  the  individual  right  of  every  soul  to     be     freely     taught     of 
"every  word  that  proceedeth  out  of  the  mouth  of  God ;"  and  to 
French  Huguenot  ancestry  I  owe  a  consciousness  that  Beauty 
is  one  of  His  greatest  Words;  Art  one  of  His  richest  Voices; 
Nature  the  very  concrete  Expression  of  His  skill,  taste,  and 
esthetic  Principles;  while  to  make  Beauty  forceful  and  vital  it 
must  be  as  democratically  embodied  in  every  daily  life,  (as  are 
principles  of  physics  or  ethics)  in  the  full  spirit     of     "Liberty, 
Equality,  Fraternity."    The  Christ  said:  "If  you  do  not  believe 
me  for  my  Words,  believe  me  for  my  Works'  sake !  My  Father 
worketh  hitherto,  and  I  work."     And  Saint  James  adds,  "Show 
me  faith  without  works,  and  I  will  show  you  faith  by  my  works," 
We   need   no   nobler   "aristocracy"   of   True    Labor   than   this ! 
The  "vulgarity"  is  in  the  wantonly  idle,  rapacious,  and  tyranni- 
cal.    If  "actions  speak  louder  than  words,"  the  Deity  may  be 

10 


speaking  louder  through   his  Cosmic   Bible     of     Works     than 
through  any  local  Bible  of  words  (Hebraic  or  other)! 

The  mysterious  Spirit  of  Light,  Life,  Truth,  and  Beauty, 
back  of  things,  seems  pressing  into  our  planet  everywhere,  ac- 
cording to  the  various  receptivity  of  localities  or  susceptibility 
of  souls;  andthe  poor,  honest,  and  oppressed  ])roducers.  of  the 
Earth,  are  often  more  open  to  the  mighty  voices  of  the  Creator 
than  the  selfishly  complacent  and  smug.  It  is  certain  the 
Hebrews  themselves  were  more  receptive  and  amenable  after 
exile,  sorrow\  and  pilgrimage  than  when  they  waxed  fat  with 
material  wealth  and  intellectual  conceit.  In  their  early  demo- 
cratic age  they  heard  the  Lord's  call  for  "all  in  whom  I  have 
put  ]\Iy  Spirit  to  work  cunning  workmanship  in  every  material," 
to  come  forward  to  help  l^eautify  His  tabernacle;  but  in  their 
later  official  decadence  they  crucified  the  carpenter  Messiah, 
whose  purity  and  nobility  the  common  people  recognized  gladly, 
and  who  urged  everybody  to  "consider  the  lily,  how  it  grows" — 
as  Paul  cried,  "Whatsoever  things  are  lovely,  consider  these!" 
Even  David  denounced  "those  who  consider  not  the  works  of 
the  Lord  nor  the  operation  of  His  hands." 

O.  Then  you  do  not  think  the  Puritan  iconoclasm  and 
antagonism  toward  Beauty  were  correct;  or  that  Christ  was  op- 
posed to  it  when  he  declared  to  the  beautiful  stones  of  the  tem- 
ple that  "not  one  would  be  left  on  another?"  How  do  you  con- 
nect Beauty  and  Ethics? 

A,  The  iconoclasm  of  the  Puritans  was  but  a  temporary 
reaction  against  the  Romanist  abuse  of  Art ;  and  against  the 
vain  show  of  monarchists  who  hid  their  tyrannous  selfishness 
under  specious  pretenses  of  "art  patronage;"  much  as  robber 
barons  today  make  pompous  donations  for  libraries  and  art  gal- 
leries to  cloak  political  corruption  and  rascality  in  their  acquisi- 
tions. Such  art  stimulus  is  apt  to  be  spurious  and  sporadic;  and 
can  never  take  the  place  of  sincere,  genuine  growth  in  the  public 
at  large.  I  think  the  old  Puritans  had  (at  heart,  under  a  grim 
exterior)  much  tender  appreciation  of  Beauty-in-Nature ;  and 
certainly  of  Honesty-in-workmanship  (which  are  at  the  bottom 
of  all  good  "artist-artisanship"). 

To  me  physics,  ethics,  and  esthetics  are  but  different  facets 
of  the  same  great  prism  of  Truth.  The  same  white  light  of  J'V^ve*, 
Equilibrium  in  planetary  motion.  Sir  Isaac  Newton  sees  it  in 
ted  by  temperament  and  colored  by  different  applications  to  ma- 
terial. Take,  for  instance,  a  living  principle,  like  Unity  and 
Equilibrium  in  planetary  motion.  Sir  Icaas  Newton  sees  it  in 
physics  and  calls  it  "gravity" ;  an  ethicist  sees  it  in  the  moral 
world  and  calls  it  "temperance,"   "continence,"   etc. ;  while   an 

II 


artist,  seeing  the  flanking  towers  and  doorways  of  a  cathedral, 
calls  it  "Constructional  Balance."  It  is  so  with  a  host  of  other 
great  principles,  snch  as  Harmony,  Order,  Regularity,  Propor- 
tion, Propriety  and  Fitness,  and  Selection  and  Adaptation,  etc. 
\Miether  as  a  Messiah,  or  as  the  noblest  type  of  Manhood  that 
our  race  has  produced,  Christ  would  not  have  discarded  any 
Living  Principles  that  are  portions  of  elemental  Truth.  He 
merely  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  all  cosmic  principles 
would  be  seen  to  be  International  rather  than  local,  and  "writ- 
ten on  the  heart"  for  universal  application  rather  than  confined 
to  Samaria  or  Jerusalem  or  to  any  place  or  temple.  Historic 
religion  has  not  destroyed  the  essential  Beauty  of  any  truth 
or  race — Greek,  Hebrew,  or  Latin.  What  was  vitally  helpful 
then,  in  art  or  thought,  is  more  alive  today  than  ever,  both  to 
reveal  their  civilization  and  to  reanimate  ours.  I  find  those  who 
catch  principles  virilely,  in  one  field,  are  more  likely  to  detect 
them  in  another;  and  to  develop  character  more  proportionate- 
ly. At  Pentecost  the  Spirit  declared,  to  varied  personalities  col- 
lected, "the  wonderful  Works-of-God,"  each  "in  his  own  langu- 
age." .So,  by  any  window  that  Truth  enters  into  a  house,  it 
"giveth  light  to  all  that  are  in  the  house !" 

We  Americans  should  keep  this  fact  closer  to  national  con- 
science and  application.  Our  educational  systems  fail  to  recog- 
nize essential  principles  and  their  unities.  Art  and  Beauty 
suffer  from  educational  narrow^ness  and  prejudice.  Labor  is 
stifled  and  atrophied  from  lack  of  Vital  Art-Inspiration;  and  be- 
comes dead,  mechanical  drudgery!  "Commercialism"  (another 
term  for  selfish  materialism)  will  not  save  us  but  destroy  us;  and 
quantity  will  not  replace  quality.  Our  colleges  fail  of  the  true 
"university"  spirit  toward  light,  beauty,  art,  and  all  their  applica- 
tions. It  was  because  I  found  so  many  rushing  from  my  own 
university  (of  Yale)  to  crowd  old  avenues  of  law,  medicine, 
theology,  etc.,  that  I  preferred  to  pioneer  in  newer  and  more 
needed  (though  less  lucrative  or  conventional)  lines. 

Great  w^orld-exhibitions  were  beginning  to  reveal  America 
as  far  behind  in  art  and  artisanship;  while  open  marts  and  com- 
petition were  certain  to  grapple  and  destroy  our  blind  depend- 
ence on  raw  materials  in  "raw"  hands.  Hence  the  pressure  to  do 
what  one  could  to  help,  in  time,  our  nation's  better  conscience, 
thought,  taste  and  capacity  toward  Industry.  W^e  can  never  be  a 
true  Republic  until  we  honor  Labor  by  ennobling  it  educational- 
ly. It  has  suffered  too  long  from  our  hypocritical  shoddy  and 
veneer,  and  the  unjust  degradation  and  weakness  this  imposes. 
National  self-protection  can  only  come  by  self-respect  and  self- 
development.  It  must  be  organic,  internal,  genuine,  not  artificial 

12 


and  extraneous.  Tyranny  and  selfishness  in  the  trusts  beget  a 
like  retaliation  in  labor  unions — though  these  latter  have  at 
least  learned  self-sacrifice  for  members  and  fair  play  by  arbitra- 
tion. Our  present  morbid  industrial  condition  gives  rise  to 
monstrous  political  charlatanism,  hocus-pocus  tricks  of  poli- 
ticians, to  ''protect"  our  weakness  (by  tariff  and  revenue  para- 
sites), when  only  generous  and  general  Artist-artisanship  can 
fortify  us ! 

I  have  had  manuacturers  of  American  carpets,  etc.,  say  they 
would  not  let  their  own  wives  furnish  home  with  products  from 
their  personal  factories,  because  the  "colors  would  not  hold," 
and  "the  patterns  were  not  as  good  as  foreign";  but  they  com- 
pelled other  Americans  to  buv  their  bad  productions  by  high 
tariffs!  They  themselves  jump  the  fence  they  put  around  oth- 
ers !  Meanwhile  they  degrade  labor,  and  deny  it  the  education 
that  could  protect  home  products  legitimately !  Americans  should 
meet  fire  with  fire,  intelligence  with  intelligence,  taste  with  taste, 
skill  with  skill — for  the  industrious  producing  classes  of  our 
country  must  ever  be  the  true  life,  soul,  and  support  of  liberty. 
We  need  a  nobler  "aristocracy"  than  that  of  speculation,  greed, 
chicane — something  born  rather  of  sincere  Culture,  social  Serv- 
ice, self-respect,  self-support,  self-defense — the  nobility  of  true 
Production,  instead  of  parasitism  and  plunder.  In  this  renova- 
tion, Art  has  a  great  and  noble  function  to  perform,  but  it  must 
itself  be  genuine,  vital,  national,  constructive,  inspired,  and  uni- 
versal in  application,  based  on  Living  Principles — not  spurious- 
ly mimetic  of  other  times  and  peoples ;  not  borrowing  their 
castaway  clothes  but  applying  eternally  fresh  and  Living  Princi- 
ples. American  art  has  too  many  fads  and  faddists — little  posers 
who  monkey  foreign  mannerisms  and  peddle  foreigntricks.  They 
start  so-called  "art  schools,"  which  do  more  to  discourage  genu- 
ine native  talent,  and  to  pervert  sincere  American  taste,  than 
they  do  liberally  to  enlighten,  enlarge,  and  empower  it.  Worst 
of  all  are  the  speculative  "book  trusts"  or  "copybook"  syndi- 
cates, which  exploit  the  public  school  system  with  cheap  art 
sawdust;  and  massacre  the  innocents  with  esthetic  "wooden 
nutmegs ;"  choke  off  inspiration ;  and  disgust  wholesome  aspira- 
tion that  ought  to  attain  real  usefulness  and  bloom.  The  young 
come  from  Heaven  full  of  God's  splendid  ideality,  imagination, 
and  hunger  to  create !  These  faculties  are  some  of  the  most 
precious  for  later  productive  prosperity.  The  good  designer  is 
worth  more  than  the  fabric ;  and  the  inventor  is  worth  more  than 
the  mechanic;  for  Mind  gives  matter  most  of  its  attractiveness 
and  value. 

13 


O.  But,  i\Ir.  Stinison,  some  people  seem  to  imagine  that, 
while  art  is  good  for  the  cultured  and  those  in  easy  circum- 
stances, it  would  harm  the  artisans  by  making  them  "discontent- 
ed"' with  their  lot  and  surroundings — something  that  to  their 
minds  is  "not  desirable."  What  are  your  views,  based  on  exper- 
ience, first  in  regard  to  the  influence  of  art  on  the  minds  of  the 
toilers,  and  secondly  as  to  the  effect  for  good  or  ill  of  the  dis- 
content that  art  might  awaken  in  the  minds  of  the  artisans? 

A.  Such  objectors  and  objections  are  the  familiar  fossiliz- 
ed ones  that  ,from  of  old.  have  struggled  to  bolster  ignorance 
and  the  tyranny  that  thrives  on  it.  Noble  discontent  is  the  soul 
of  progress;  and  true  progress  is  the  only  true  conservatism!  To 
tie  up  the  circulation  of  blood  in  my  finger  is  not  to  conserve 
it,  but  to  destroy  the  finger!  Nine-tenths  of  the  people  who 
hide  self-interest  and  timidity  under  the  folds  of  nominal  "con- 
servatism" are  arrant  rogues  or  cowards,  who  prevent  the  True 
Conservatism  of  genuine  Popular  Life !  They  "profit"  in  the 
humiliation,  ignorance,  and  suffering  of  human  brothers  whom 
they  ought  to  help  to  light  and  liberty;  but  pride  and  selfish 
caste  blind  them,  and  "they  fear  to  come  to  the  light  because 
their  methods  are  evil."  Yet  true  progress  and  vital  education 
in  Living  Principles  would  profit  all  true  souls,  all  true  inter- 
ests, and  "protect"  permanently  all  worthy  of  protection.  But 
unjust  repression  or  suppression  of  popular  talent,  taste,  self- 
culture,  and  honest  aspiration  must  radically  weaken  the  na- 
tion ;  discourage  development ;  deflect  progress  and  prosperity 
to  wiser  localities;  and  arouse  the  very  "discontent"  dreaded! 
The  Australian  republics  and  even  Switzerland  and  Japan  are 
out-running  us  in  broad,  generous  humanity  and  true  civiliza- 
tion, while  we  are  returning  "like  the  sow  that  was  washed,  to 
the  mire"  of  medieval  Bourbonism  and  imperialism. 

My  experience  among  artistic  workers  in  other  lands  is  that 
their  interest  and  inspiration  for  beautiful  work  become  the 
soul  of  contentment  as  well  as  of  prosperity.  When  heart  and 
mind  are  fed,  as  well  as  the  stomach,  we  have  better  guaranties 
of  happiness  throughoutall  society.  The  empty-handed  inca- 
pacity and  idleness,  among  the  children  of  rich  homes,  often 
become  their  despair  and  desolation — the  fruitful  mother  of 
folly  and  ennui.  Our  public  schools  should  not  turn  our  child- 
ren into  mere  parrots  and  machines  for  measuring  tape  and 
counting  columns,  or  those  who  despise  the  "use"  of  their 
hands.  The  kindergarten  and  manual  training  departments 
should  be  strengthened;  but  especially  the  love  of  Nature, 
Beauty,  Art,  Taste,  Skill,   Invention,   and    Design    should     be 

14 


kindled  like  a  mighty  conflagration  to  enable  us  to  catch  up  with 
the  rival  nations  attacking  us !  For,  so,  new  avenues  of  useful- 
ness and  constructive  worth  are  opened ;  precious  faculties  and 
talents  are  quickened  and  employed;  vast  resources  of  national 
wealth,  industry,  and  ingenuity  are  unveiled,  by  adding  the 
values  of  GENIUS  to  those  of  crude  matter.  No  greater  need 
presses  upon  this  country  than  to  give  to  the  term  "prosperity" 
a  far  deeper  and  safer  significance  than  the  mere  surfeit  of  the 
appetite  and  bloating  of  the  pocketbook ;  and  no  more  sacrileg- 
ious impiety  exists,  today,  than  the  dethroning  of  God  by  gokl. 
and  calling  it  the  "Almighty;"  instead  of  those  Splendid  Capa- 
cities of  patriotism,  devotion,  invention,  construction,  and  pro- 
duction, by  which  the  Creator  enables  a  noble  artist-artisan  to 
give  all  metals  superior  "value" ;  and  to  all  materials  Spiritual 
Beauty  and  Usefulness. 

Are  not  the  intelligence,  refinement  .contentment,  and  pub- 
lic confidence  of  our  productive  classes  as  sacred  and  pressing 
an  element  for  general  "prosperity,"  as  the  vanity,  idleness,  and 
affectations  of  the  "(HIettante"  class?  Surely  no  profounder  na- 
tional shame  and  peril  await  the  American  Repul)lic,  than  to 
find  her  Ship-of-State  has  been  boarded  (while  patriots  slept)  l)y 
mercenary  pirates,  hypocritically  waving  old  flags  (for  which  our 
forefathers  once  died),  but  which  robbers  and  murderers  today 
recklessly  dishonor  and  trample  under  foot,  in  imperiahstic  greed 
and  rapine !  The  honest  skilled  labor  of  the  Nation  is  its  very 
Life-Blood!  Whoever  degrades  or  attacks  it  destroys  national 
hope ;  whoso  uplifts  and  enlightens  it  most  deserves  the  title  of 
Patriot  or  Christian. 

O.  Do  you  regard  art  education  as  vitally  essential  to  the 
ethical  development  or  Soul  culture  of  the  individual,  and  as 
essential  to  triumphant  Democracy?  What  influence,  aside  from 
all  commercial  thought,  does  Art  exert  over  the  normal  mind? 
Does  it  bring  the  soul  into  sympathetic  rapport  with  the  Divine 
life,  and  serve  to  refine  sublimate,  and  ennoble  life? 

A.  All  Vital  Principles  (whether  physical,  etliical,  or 
esthetic)  must,  of  course,  do  this.  The  crime  of  educational  his- 
tory has  been  the  feeding,  to  mankind,  of  the  technical  husks 
"that  the  swine  do  eat ;"  instea  dof  the  sweet  kernals  of  Active 
Principles  "that  give  Life."  Chinese  praying-machines  never 
kept  moral  life  alive  in  that  marvelous  old  land,  half  so  much  as 
the  one  living  principle  of  the  Golden  Rule  which  Confucius  laid 
down  (upon  its  obverse  side).  W^e  have  our  religious,  political. 
and  educational  "machines"  too;  but  the  nation  needs,  far  more, 
a  few  simple,  vital  teachers — as  Confucius,  Socrates,  Paul,  Luth- 

15 


er,  Jefferson,  Froebel  and  Spencer — to  make  Living  Principles 
clear,  accessible,  and  applicable.  In  Art  it  is  the  same  as  else- 
where— in  laboratory,  Church,  or  State.  The  Christ  did  not 
offer  to  men  the  stale  cisterns  of  convention,  but  the  Living 
vSprings  of  Workable  Principle.  This  offended  priestcraft  and 
politicial  harpies ;  but  it  saved  Liberty,  Humanity,  Civilization ! 

It  is  the  only  thing,  again,  that  can  rescue  our  staggering 
Republic  from  the  growing  materialism  that  is  its  imminent 
peril !  Eternal  vigilance,  and  the  crusade  of  a  deeper  Educa- 
tional Conscience,  can  alone  save  it  from  a  decadent  Mammon- 
ism.  Art  must  do  her  part.  She  revives  the  Ideal,  spiritualizes 
"matter,"  reveals  the  Divine  in  Nature  and  in  daily  labor,  revives 
the  canons  of  eternal  Beauty  and  the  estimates  of  broader  pro- 
portion and  truer  perspective ;  while  cheering,  refining,  and  con- 
soling the  necessary  toil  of  existence.  In  its  direct  combina- 
tion of  mind-with-matter,  ideality-with-reality,  poetry-with- 
practise,  vision-with-visualization,  a  noble  "Artist-artisanship" 
is  the  first  step  in  Practical  Christianity!  It  is  the  first  requisite 
of  wholesome  citizenship — "a  sound-Mind-in-a-sound-Body." 

Q.  Is  it  not  true  that,  from  a  purely  commercial  point  of 
view, — laying  aside  for  the  moment  all  thought  of  the  influence 
of  art  on  the  higher  nature, — artist-artisan  schools  would  prove 
the  best  possible  outlay  for  money  devoted  to  the  enrichment 
of  the  nation?  Are  not  France,  Germany,  Japan,  and  other  na- 
tions far  ahead  of  our  Republic  in  the  appreciation  manifested 
for  Art;  and  have  not  the  Art  Schools  of  certain  great  European 
governments,  and  the  prizes  offered  by  nations  like  France,  (for 
example  of  the  finest  designs  in  tapestry,  pottery,  and  other  dec- 
orative effects)  resulted  in  immensely  increasing  the  real  wealth 
through  Trade,  brought  to  the  nation  that  thus  exerted  Wisdom 
in  developing  artistic  sensibilities  in  the  artisan  class? 

A.  From  what  I  have  said  before,  you  can  readily  see  that 
Art  must  result  in  such  practical  and  directly  beneficial  aid  and 
inspiration  tothe  people  that  rightly  cultivate  it.  See  what  a 
magnificent  testimonial  by  it  remains  to  the  sublimity  of  Egypt, 
the  high  intelligence  of  Greece,  and  the  Christian  faith  and  aspir- 
ation of  European  peoples  struggling  up  through  the  Dark  Ages. 
See  what  an  industrial  power  it  has  been  to  Japan  and  is  becom- 
ing today  to  France  and  Germany !  The  exportations  of  Japan 
for  the  last  ten  years  have  risen  from  sixty  millions  to  one  hun- 
dren  and  sixty — a  proportion  of  growth  greater  than  any  other 
country,  and  largely  due  to  her  artistic  culture  and  skill ;  to  wdiich 
may  likewise  be  attributed  much  of  her  marvelous  plasticity, 
self-reliance,  and  adaptability  to  modern  progress.     France,  at 

16 


her  great  international  exhibit,  recorded  over  fifty  miUion  entries 
(with  all  that  implies  collaterally) — a  number  twice  as  great  as 
our  Chicago  Centennial !  Can  any  one  fail  to  see  the  immense 
elasticity,  virility,  and  receptive  power  that  have  blessed  these 
two  nations  (Japan  and  France)  through  their  wise  apprecia- 
tion of  Nature  and  their  industrial  cultivation  of  skill,  taste, 
aptitude,  ingenuity,  thrift,  and  beauty?  And  how  the  slower  arts 
of  Germany  and  England  are  hurrying  to  learn  the  mighty  les- 
son contained  in  industrial  history!  To  the  "man-wolf"  who 
only  longs  to  prey  upon  society  and  pervert  government,  these 
qualities  may  be  irrelevant ;  but,  to  the  honest  Christian  and 
Humanist,  who  longs  to  see  a  sad  world  rescued  from  wolves, 
and  raised  into  industrial  peace,  prosperity,  and  happiness;  the 
lesson  of  Applied  Beauty — or  noble  "Artist-artisanship" — is 
convincing!  Who  cannot  see  that  the  great  Hokusai  (who  in- 
spired Japanese  industry  in  a  thousand  ways  by  brilliant  arts, 
and  at  ninety  years  of  age  humbly  begged  to  "know  more  of  the 
Divine-Beauty-of-Nature  that  he  might  be  fitted  to  die")  and 
the  sweet  and  modest  painter  of  "The  Angelus"  (whose  heroic 
life  and  labors  for  God's  Beauty  in  humble  toil  thrilled  this  cen- 
tury) are  nobler  types  of  civilization  and  society  (though  out- 
cast and  oppressed  by  these)  than  the  political  sharks  who  raven 
today  thereupon?  God  is  today  holding  up  these  two  social 
types  of  heaven  or  hell  in  sharp,  inescapable  contrast,  and  ask- 
ing us,  "Whom  will  ye  serve — Producer  or  Spoliator?" 

O.  You  use  frequently  the  words  "organic  and  vital  x\rtist- 
artisanship."  Please  explain  the  professional  sense  in  which 
you  use  this  term. 

A.  Certainly.  I  have  referred  to  cardinal  Principles  in 
art-life,  as  in  all  life.  Let  us  look  closer.  Is  not  all  creation 
Art?  Plato  exclaims,  "These  things  that  they  say  are  done  by 
Nature  are  really  done  by  Divine  Art."  They  are  material 
atoms  deliberately  arranged  in  Beauty,  Order  and  System.  And 
this  is  "Art."  That  is  to  say,  some  latent  Ideals,  progressive 
Principles,  systematic  Methods,  are  giving  Beautiful  material- 
ization and  expression  to  the  Divine  Will.  Accident  cannot  ex- 
plain such  consistent  order,  design,  and  definitely  attained  de- 
light as  we  experience  at  each  bursting  spring.  A  rose  reduced 
to  powder  is  no  longer  a  "rose!"  The  "rose"  has  disappeared! 
What  was  it?  whence  came?  whither  gone? 

Evidently  some  Informing  Spirit  had  willed  those  material 
particles  into  such  relations  as  conveyed  meaning  and  delight 
to  our  spirits ;  therefore,  it  was  communication,  or  "language" 
— Divine   Self-expression !     There   were   also   order,   harmony, 

17 


unity,  balance,  proportion,  variety-in-unity,  appropriateness,  and 
ideality  "expressed."  So  long  as  God's  art  was  undisturbed,  in 
the  powder,  all  observers  adored  and  wondered  at  it.  Drive  that 
Ideal  and  those  latent  Principles  out  of  the  atoms,  and  you  have 
"murdered"  the  rose!  You  have  driven  back  its  spirit  to  God 
who  gave  it !  Only  dust  and  ugliness  remain  in  your  hand ! 
This  is  what  ruthless  tyrants  are  doing  to  Divine  Ideals  of 
Beauty  in  human  society  and  labor — depriving  them  of  beautiful 
principles,  and  reducing  them  to  wretched  material  atoms !  A 
community  that  so  acts  drives  its  best  workers  and  producers 
elsewhere.  The  religious  persecutions  in  France  exiled  the 
best  and  most  skilled  citizens  from  France,  and  brought  indus- 
trial light,  and  competition  to  alert  rivals.  The  persistence  of 
force  is  known,  and  so  with  great  Ideas  or  Ideals.  I  doubt  the 
destruction  of  any  divine  Ideal — even  of  a  rose  or  song-l)ird. 
What  persistency  and  fecundity  of  ideal  in  every  flower!  I  Ije- 
Heve  we  will  find  them  all  again  in  the  Bosom-of-the-Creator, 
when  we  appear  before  Him ;  for,  with  infinite  space  and  fore- 
sight evident,  annihilation  is  illogical !  The  very  artist  of  earth 
who  has  seen  and  caught  correctly  the  Soul  of  that  rose,  into 
his  own  Soul;  can  resurrect  its  Spirit  visually  upon  the  canvas, 
and  give  back  life  to  the  dust.  Why  should  not  the  Infinite 
Artist  do  the  same  ? 

Our  first  duty  is  to  awaken  the  young  and  the  workers  to 
Ideals  of  Nature  and  to  ideal  Principles  and  methods  of  Beauty, 
in  Nature;  the  elements  of  grace  and  charm  in  motion,  meas- 
ure, growth,  form,  color,  light,  texture,  arrangement.  These 
are  all  Divine !  Sometimes  the  Creator  seeks  the  Beauty-of-Use 
(as  in  a  cal)bage)  ;  but  sometimes  the  Use-of-Beauty  (as  in  a 
lily).  Who  dare  say  Him  nay,  or  antagonize  them  to  each  other? 
Blessed  the  soul  of  aspiration  that  combines  them  !  This  is  the 
divine  desire  of  the  "artist-artisan.''  God  Himself — the  First 
Member — was  founder  of  our  Brotherhood:  for  do  we  not  see 
Beauty  and  Use  together  in  the  "apple-trees"  of  Paradise?  We 
must  nurture  (not  nip),  in  the  child's  soul,  the  mighty  faculties 
that  accompany  this  gracious  gift  of  natural  Beauty:  Observa- 
tion, Perception,  good  Judgment,  Taste,  Selection,  Arrange- 
ment, Adaptation — most  of  all  Ideality,  Imagination,  Original- 
ity, keen  Sensitiveness,  Decorativeness,  and  Invention  This 
makes  them  derive  more  direct  happiness  and  joy  from  natural 
sources ;  it  makes  them  more  alive  to  suggestions  of  Beauty  in 
work,  more  contented  and  valuable  as  producers.  Life  now 
takes  on  a  richer  and  more  glorious  Meaning  to  the  worker,  for 
he  now  sees  more  clearly  the  Methods  and  Meaning  of  Crea- 
tion, and  l)ecomes  a  co-worker  with  tlie  great  Creator!     ^^'hat 

18 


can  bring  a  truer  inspiration  to  right  service?  The  employer 
who  deprives  the  soul  of  this  Inspiration  "murders"  it,  to  make 
it  a  hopeless  and  dreary  drudge  or  machine ;  and  he  should  be 
"restrained-by-law"  as  much  as  a  monster  or  a  maniac!  The 
"artist-artisan,"  or  beautiful  worker,  is  the  Ideal  producer  (and 
not  a  parasite) ;  and  so  he  is  the  "Ideal"  man. 

Q.  You  think,  then,  that  William  Morris  and  John  Ruskin 
were  among  the  truest  propliets  of  progress  that  the  nineteenth 
century  produced? 

A.  I  do,  certainly !  And  I  go  further — that  similar  men, 
in  all  ages,  were  the  truest  Prophets  of  all  ages!  All  Nature, 
of  course,  is  a  Divine  work-shop  and  Artist-artisan  School. 
Jesus  was  a  practical  constructive  "carpenter"  most  of  his  life — 
save  the  last  three  }'ears,  when  he  publicly  but  modestly  lectured 
for  the  oppressed  poor  and  endured  heroic  martyrdom  for  a  few 
far-reaching  Divine  Principles !  Ruskin  and  Morris  labored  in 
much  the  same  spirit,  and  endured  very  similar  obloquy,  critic- 
ism, and  ostracism — with  an  essential  Christianity  greater  by  far 
than  most  official  politics  or  priestcraft.  But  so  also  had  many 
noble  artist-artisans  done  through  all  time  in  a  holy  quest  for 
Beautv  or  its  Eternal  Principles,  tangibly  embodied.  They  be- 
came the  life-marrow  of  Labor,  in  all  those  ages,  and  created 
really  enduring  wealth ;  they  preserved  History,  perpetuated  the 
best  Ideals,  and  both  inspired  and  educated  posterity  by  Prac- 
tical Performances.  Egypt,  Greece,  Italy,  and  Japan  have  been 
full  of  them !  \\'hat  were  mighty  Phidias,  Praxiteles,  Raphael, 
Da  Vinci,  Angelo,  Cellini,  the  wonderful  Ghiberti,  whose  beauti- 
ful bronze  gates  were  called  "fit-for-Paradise"?  Who  the 
Delia  Robbias.  Stradivariuses,  Varrochios,  etc.  ?  \\'ho  were  the 
army  of  beautiful  illuminators,  carvers,  cathedral  builders,  that 
by  constancy  and  devotion  heroically  preserved  learning,  and 
upreared  the  glorious  Gothic  cathedrals — poems  in  stone  of  the 
divine  Adoration  they  felt  for  the  Holy  Spirit?  ]Many  were 
martyrs  outright — like  Palissy  and  Jean  Francois  Millet.  Yes, 
verilv!  often  "destitute,  afflicted!  tormented,  in  dens  and  caves 
of  earth;"  they  ("of  whom  the  world  was  not  worthy")  through 
faith  in  Beauty  "wrought  righteousness;  stopped  the  mouths 
of  (industrial)  lions;  out  of  weakness  were  made  strong;"  and 
"endured-as-Seeing  that  which  (to  oppressors  of  labor)  is  ever 
invisible"!  Europe,  and  even  Asia,  is  learning  to  honor  those 
great  prophets  and  martyrs  of  industry — divine  Teachers  and 
Producers  of  a  "Heavenly  City"  yet  "to  come" — where  all  men 
shall  be  Brothers  in  the  maintenance  of  a  juster  Society;  and 
where  the  humblest-hearted  producer  may  yet  be  "First"  in  the 

19 


estimate  of  the  Eternal  Judge !  They  are  planting  schools  of 
artist-artisanship  everywhere  in  this  industrial  centers. 

Q.  Will  you  give  us  your  ideas  of  what  might  be  accom- 
plished by  an  intelligently  directed  artist-artisan  movement? 

A.  With  the  great  material  means  of  America  there  is  no 
reason  why  this  intellectual  and  moral  light  in  industry  should 
be  withheld;  for  it  is  national  suicide  not  to  provide  it  liberally! 
The  young  people  of  both  sexes,  in  all  strata  of  society,  are 
really  in  need  of  sound  taste  and  executive  skill  in  a  thousand 
forms  of  inventive  and  industrial  life.  Many  branches  are 

starving  for  it!  Much  is  left  too  late  in  life  to  learn,  or  too 
superficial  and  affected ;  often  unillumined  by  principle  or  un- 
fortified by  practise.  Bad  systems  of  teaching  make  dry,  sterile, 
and  mimetic,  what  should  be  vital,  inspiring,  and  creative. 

The  "artist-artisan"  idea  should  be  an  organic  part  of  our 
school  system ;  but  vitally  and  for  development — not  merely  for 
a  little  immediate  money,  nor  for  manual  mimicries.  Through 
many  years  of  direct  operation  among  many  nationalities,  I  have 
found  our  American  stock  just  as  alert,  sensitive,  susceptible  of 
beauty,  taste,  and  executive  skill  as  any;  and  rather  more  ob- 
servant of  Nature,  sensitive  to  suggestion,  refined  in  general 
culture,  and  certainly  much  more  eager  and  willing  to  advance. 
What  they  have  needed  most  was  really  first-class  instruction, 
example,  and  opportunity,  and  to  be  delivered  from  quack 
syndicates !  Lack  of  practise  and  of  artistic  expression  makes 
our  youth  ignorant  of  high  standards  and  awkward  and  timid 
as  to  personal  possibilities.  This  would  easily  pass  into  genuine 
courage  and  creativeness  if  noble  artist-artisan  schools,  nobly 
led,  could  be  scattered  generously  among  the  people.  Everv- 
thing  would  depend  on  sound  principles  and  right  leadership ; 
for,  as  Napoleon  puts  it :  "There's  no  use  for  us  to  set  guardians 
— unless  we  guard  the  guards!" 


20 


PROFESSOR  STIMSON'S  GREAT  WORK  ON  ART, 
"THE  GATE-BEAUTIFUL." 

A   SYMPOSIUM  BY  GEORGE  LANSING  RAYMOND,  L.  H.  D.; 
R.  HEBER  NEWTON,  D.  D.;  JOSHUA  L.  CHAMBERLAIN,   LL.   D.; 

JOAQUIN    MILLER,  AND  EDWIN  MARKHAM. 

(It  is  our  profund  conviction  that  Professor  Stimson's  work, 
'The  Gate  Beautiful"  is  the  most  vital  and  fundamentally  im- 
portant book  by  an  American  author  that  has  appeared  in  recent 
years.  Its  greatness  Hes  not  only  in  the  broad  and  masterly 
handling  of  the  basic  principles  of  Art,  and  the  multitudinous 
manifestations  of  Nature's  varying  moods — (though  as  a  philo- 
sophical and  practical  treatise  on  art  is  far  superior  to  any  work 
of  which  we  have  any  knowledge) — but  also  in  its  suggestive 
Revelation-of-Nature  in  her  secret  workings;  while  its  Implica- 
tions and  the  ennobling  Philosophy  it  embodies,  are  better  cal- 
culated to  exalt  the  Ideals  of  the  masses,  and  to  stimulate  the 
Highest  Aspirations  than  any  similar  work  from  an  American 
pen.  If  the  volume  had  been  merely  a  fine  technical  work,  if 
it  had  been  superficial  in  character,  if  it  had  been  written  simply 
for  the  few  or  to  delight  the  dilettante,  we  should  have  been 
content  to  dismiss  it  with  a  passing  notice ;  but  inasmuch  as  it 
strikes  at  the  very  root  of  the  Basic  Principles  that  aiTect  alike 
the  artist  and  esthetic  as  w^ell  as  ethical  and  spiritual  Verities; 
because  the  supreme  aim  and  passion  of  the  author  has  been  to 
reach  the  vast  masses  of  the  people,  and  awaken  in  them  such 
a  knowledge  and  appreciation  of  great  and  original  Art  that 
they  may  recognize,  enjoy,  and  cultivate  it;  because  the  author 
is,  we  believe,  the  first  great  Master  among  our  own  art  teach- 
ers who  has  insisted  that  the  pure  delight,  the  refinement  and 
culture  born  of  True  Art  shall  become  the  precious  heritage  of 
the  millions;  and,  finally,  because  this  work  is  a  conscience  book 
as  well  as  a  luminous  intellectual  production — a  work  of  Genius 
of  the  highest  order  that  appeals  at  once  to  the  Imagination,  the 
Reason,  and  the  Heart  in  dealing  with  the  most  vital  problems 
of  life;  we  have  secured  the  following  symposium  of  criticisms 
and  appreciations  from  five  representative  thinkers  in  various 
walks  of  life. 

The  first  three  criticisms  are  by  George  Lansing  Raymond, 
L.  H.  D.,  Professor  of  Esthetics  in  Princeton  University  and 
author  of  "Art  in  Theory,"  "The  Genesis  of  Art-Form,"  "Poetry 
as  a  Representative  Art"  and  other  volumes  upon  comparative 
esthetics;  R.  Heber  Newton,  D.  D.,  the  famous  liberal-minded 
Episcopalian  clergyman ;  Joshua  L.  hamberlain,  LL.  D.,  who  was 
for  many  years  president  of  Bowdoin  College  and  whose  val- 

21 


liable  labors  for  progressive  education  have  been  only  second  to 
the  service  rendered  to  the  State  on  the  field  of  war  and  as  chief 
executive  of  Maine.  To  the  criticisms  of  the  art  teacher  and 
critic,  the  divine,  and  the  educator,  we  have  added  two  brief  ap- 
preciations from  poets — representatives  of  widely  different 
thought-worlds,  Joaquin  Miller,  the  mystic  poet  of  the  Sierras, 
and  Edwin  Markham,  the  noble  laureate  of  the  common  life. 
These  appreciations  form  a  worthy  tribute  to  a  work  which  can- 
not fail  to  broaden  and  deepen  the  culture  and  exalt  the  life  of 
every  reader. 

B.  O.  FLOWER,  (Editor.) 

I. 

By  PROF.  RAYMOND,  of  Princeton  University. 

It  gives  me  pleasure  to  be  able  to  say  a  few  words  concern- 
ing Professor  John  Ward  Stimson's  work,  "The  Gate  Beauti- 
ful." According  to  my  judgment,  it  has  three  characteristics 
which  make  it  an  extremely  valuable  contribution  to  the  art- 
thought  and  art-culture  of  our  country.  The  first  characteristic 
is  the  minute,  and,  in  most  cases,  accurate  analysis  to  which  al- 
most every  phase  of  the  possibilities  of  form  has  been  subjected! 
That  so  much  thought  could  be  sugegsted  by  sources  so  appar- 
ently superficial  as  Line  and  Color,  will  appeal  to  large  numbers 
(who  have  never  studied  the  subject)  with  the  force  of  revela- 
tion !  and  no  one,  no  matter  how  much  he  has  studied  it,  can, 
even  in  a  hurried  way,  turn  over  the  pages  of  the  book  without 
obtaining  an  enlarged  conception  of  the  importance,  the  dignity, 
and  the  comprehensiveness  of  the  Message  of  Art  for  the 
thoughtful  mind. 

The  second  characteristic  of  the  book  is  the  attempt,  in  the 
main  successful,  to  indicate  the  peculiar  tendency  of  thought  or 
feeling  represented  by  each  phase  of  hue  or  color.  To  appreciate 
the  force  of  the  argument  presented,  it  is  not  necessary  for  one 
to  accept  without  limitations  the  exact  significance  which  Mr. 
Stimson  ascribes  to  each  of  the  almost  infinite  varieties  of  the 
elements  of  Form  which  he  considers.  No  matter  how  much  one 
may  differ  from  him  when  explaining  details,  enough  will  re- 
main to  cause  the  candid  reader  to  recognize  as  well  nigh  un- 
assailable that  which  alone  is  of  supreme  importance,  nameh'. 
the  truth  of  the  general  Principle — which  all  the  details,  taken 
together,  are  intended  to  illustrate. 

The  third  characteristic  to  which  I  have  referred,  one  would 
almost  except,  owning  to  the  particular  object  of  Mr.  Stimson's 
book,  to  find  lacking.  But  it  is  not.  Though  not  emphasized, 
it  is  everywhere  implied.     It  is  the  result  of  the  conception  so 

22 


difficult  to  get  into  the  heads  of  many  Americans,  especially  of 
the  transcendental  school — though  Mr.  Stimson  himself,  in  a 
sense,  belongs  to  that  school — that  in  order  to  become  artistic, 
forms  of  representation,  after  having  been  once  determined  by 
the  requirements  of  significance,  must  be  developed  and  elabor- 
ated according  to  methods  having  to  do  with  Form  alone.  A 
single  architectural  arch,  for  instance,  represents  a  constructive 
thought,  a  single  musical  phrase  an  emotional  inclination.  But 
one  camiot  obtain  a  completed  architectural  or  musical  product 
without  developing  the  representative  arch  or  phrase  in  a  way 
conditioned  upon  merely  Formal  considerations.  The  same  fact 
is  more  subtly  true  of  products  of  painting,  sculpture,  and 
poetry.  The  latter,  for  instance,  nothwithstanding  the  erroneous 
conception  of  many  of  our  critics,  must  be  more  than  merely 
expressive.  This  general  fact,  w^ith  reference  to  Art,  Mr.  Stim- 
son never  overlooks ;  and  it  is  all  the  more  noteworthy  inasmuch 
as  he  emphasizes  so  strongly — but  not  too  strongly — the  Ex- 
pressional  side. 

These  three  characteristics  of  the  book  are  those  which 
have  chiefly  impressed  me,  and  on  account  of  them  alone,  to 
say  nothing  of  other  features,  I  think  that  all  wdio  are  both  book 
lovers  of  art  and  thinkers  (they  must  be  both  to  appreciate  this 
book)  will  desire  to  see  it  placed  in  all  important  public  libraries, 
as  well  as  in  the  private  libraries  of  those  wnth  whom  art  is  a 
specialty. 

GEORGE  LANSING  RAYMOND,  L.  R.  H. 

Princeton  University,  N.  J. 

II. 
By  REV.  DR.  HEBER  NEWTON,  New  York. 

Some  books  are  manufactures,  some  are  growths.  These  be 
lived  before  they  are  written. 

The  book  before  us  is  a  life  embodied.  Like  each  of  the 
greatest  books  of  earth  (ta  biblia)  the  inspiration  in  it  is  the 
record  of  the  inspiration  of  a  life.  Rightly  to  review  this  work 
is  to  reverently  read  the  story  of  the  life  before  opening  the  cov- 
ers of  the  volume. 

John  Ward  Stimson  fitted  himself  assiduously  for  the 
career  of  an  artist.  After  studying  in  New  York,  he  spent  sev- 
eral years  in  Paris,  returning  well  prepared  for  the  vocation 
awaiting  him.  in  the  expectation  of  spending  his  days  before  the 
easel,  turning  out  pictures  for  the  art  dealer  to  sell  and  for  the 
rich  to  buy. 

Looking  around  him  with  those  observant  eyes  of  his,  which 
scan  alike  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  he  saw  the  crowding  hosts 

23 


of  painters  striving  to  do  this  work  for  the  few  of  earth.  He 
saw  also  the  greater  host  of  young  men  and  women  without  the 
gifts  for  such  a  career,  and  without  the  possibility  of  a  training 
for  it,  who  had  within  them  the  artist  soul,  the  inherent  love  of 
the  Beautiful,  vainly  seeking  an  Expression  through  their  un- 
trained fingers ;  men  and  women  capable,  if  not  of  painting  great 
pictures,  of  at  least  making  charming  vases  and  artistic  decora- 
tions and  lovely  wood  carvings;  of  becoming  artist-artisans  for 
the  service  of  the  mass  of  men.  He  saw  the  hunger  of  the  souls 
of  them  for  the  chance  to  do  the  work  of  God-for-man  to  which 
they  felt  moved,  if  only  some  one  could  teach  them.  But,  through 
the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land  he  saw  scarce  one  attempting 
to  do  this  service  aright.  Such  few  and  scattered  efforts  as  he 
found,  he  saw  to  be  largely  "mechanical,"  manifesting  no  Vital- 
ity, without  Spirituality!  And  so  the  call  came  to  him,  which 
he  unhesitatingly  obeyed;  as,  turning  from  his  chosen  career  of 
creative  work,  he  gave  himself  to  the  drudgery  (as  some  men 
w^ould  deem  it)  of  creating  creators  for  other  creative  work. 

He  saw  in  this  lack  of  the  land  the  secret  of  our  industrial 
inferiority  in  all  the  manufactures  wherein  Beauty  is  a  use.  He 
noted  our  manufacturers  importing  trained  workmen  for  the 
handicrafts  which  seek  to  give  charm  to  life.  With  the  Divining 
Rod  which  he  carried  in  his  soul,  he  detected  the  presence  of 
the  veins  of  wealth  to  be  found  in  men  and  women  capable  of 
such  artistic  work.  He  recognized  that  the  true  Democracy 
must  make  of  the  Beautiful  (as  of  every  other  real  wealth  of 
life)  a  communal  possession  of  the  people — that  Art  as  well  as 
Religion  must  be  democratized!  He  perceived  the  truth  that 
art  can  only  flourish  wdien  it  is  not  an  exotic  of  the  "salon,"  but 
a  native  product  in  the  homes  of  the  people;  when  it  is  not  the 
potted  plant  in  the  palace  of  the  rich,  but  a  sturdy,  out-of-door 
growth  in  the  yards  of  the  poor,  rooting  in  the  common  soil  of 
earth ;  that  we  can  only  have  an  art  of  the  people  when  we  have 
a  people  capable  of  art,  living  neither  in  sordidness  nor  squalor, 
but  in  the  modest,  honest  riches  which  leave  the  soul  of  man 
capable  of  discerning  that  there  is  a  wisdom  "more  to  be  desired 
than  gold,  yea  than  much  fine  gold;"  and  toiling  over  a  work 
which  does  not  drain  the  springs  of  joy  and  mock  the  pride  of 
workmanship;  but  which  makes  the  daily  task  a  delight,  and 
allows  the  workman  the  honor  of  sharing  with  the  Alost  High 
the  Inspiration  of  creation  I 

He  saw  that  a  National  Art  must  follow  upon  the  vision  of 
the  National  Ideals,  clearly  seen  and  loyally  followed.  The  re- 
vival of  a  genuine-Art,  it  was  given  him  to  see,  must  come  not 

24 


from  slavish  imitation  of  Old  World  methods  and  traditional 
formulas  and  copybook  rules  for  turning  out  pictures ;  but  by- 
opening  the  eye  to  see  the  Beauty,  all  about  us  on  our  own  soil; 
and  by  nerving  the  hand  to  dare  to  draw  the  Vision  coming  to 
the  soul,  wdien  every  land  becomes  a  Palestine!  Thus  to  see  the 
beautiful  in  the  nature  around  us  is  to  discern  the  beautifulness 
of  Nature  itself,  the  omnipresence  of  Loveliness  in  all  things; 
the  presence  everywhere  of  the  Life  which  draws  beautiful  lines 
and  constructs  in  graceful  proportions,  and  grows  forms  instinct 
with  grace;  the  presence  of  The  Spirit  dreaming  dreams  of  un- 
utterable beauty,  and  throwing  them  upon  the  canvas  of  the  sky 
and  sea,  the  field  and  mountain,  for  him  to  see  who  can ;  who 
must,  in  seeing,  bow  the  knee  in  worship ! 

With  such  thoughts  in  his  mind  and  such  lofty  visitions  in 
his  soul,  he  took  charge  of  the  New  York  Metropolitan-Museum- 
of-Art,  and,  developing  its  work  along  the  lines  of  such  princi- 
ples, he  built  up  a  student  membership  of  about  four  hundred 
in  a  few  years.  Pegasus  does  not  readily  work  in  double  har- 
ness. Genius  is  not  to  be  driven  easily  by  a  board  of  trustees — 
as  "idealistic"  as  are  most  men  of  business !  Mr.  Stimson  left 
this  work  and  founded  the  Listitute  for  Artist-Artisans,  wnth  the 
same  outward  results  in  attendance.  Some  years  later,  after  he 
had  been  laid  aside  by  ill-health  and  compelled  thus  to  abandon 
his  work  in  New  York ;  upon  the  first  return  to  health  he  en- 
gaged in  a  similar  work  in  Trenton,  New  Jersey.  Li  each  of 
the  three  schools  his  influence  was  something  wonderful.  He 
enthused  and  inspired  young  men  and  women,  and  created  a 
body  of  artist-artisans — the  Vitality  of  whose  work  was  imme- 
diately recognized  in  the  w^orld  of  industry !  Manufacturers 
found  original  designers  ready-made  for  them,  because  a  great 
soul  had  been  at  work  making  men.  Those  who  intelligently 
looked  into  this  remarkable  work  recognized  the  presence  of  a 
born  teacher,  "a  man  sent  from  God"  to  do  a  special  work,  and 
doing  it  in  utter  self-forgetfulness,  with  a  devotion  which  re- 
vealed the  highest  of  all  Beauties — "the  Beauty-of-holiness." 

What  might  not  have  come  of  this  work  if  Mr.  Stimson's 
health  had  held  out!  To  save  his  life  he  had  to  abandon  the 
work  dearer  to  him  than  life  itself,  and  go  into  retreat  in  the 
Adirondacks — for  some  years.  Like  others  before  him,  he  was 
thus  led  to  the  mountain  of  the  Vision  of  God.  "Battling  off 
death"  heroically,  under  the  bitterness  of  disappointment — tlie 
disappointment,  not  of  ambitious  schemes,  but  of  the  prophet's 
mission — he  has  learned  the  lessons  which  the  saints  of  old  thus 
learned  always.  In  the  leisure  thrust  upon  him,  and  the  wrestl- 
ing withthe  Stranger  in  the  night  which  he  could  not  escape,  the 

25 


secret  of  his  Mission  has  grown  clear,  andthe  spirit  has  ripened 
to  declare  it ! 

The  book  that  has  thus  grown  out  of  a  life  expresses  the 
rich  and  varied  qualities  of  that  hfe.  Tlie  powers  which  made 
the  work  so  striking  render  the  book  unique!  To  the  writing  of 
it  he  brouhgt  the  artistic  imagination,  the  philosophical  mind, 
the  soul  of  the  poet,  and  the  spiritual  discernment  of  the  mystic. 
The  result  is  a  work  which  stands  apart  from  everythingelse  in 
its  line  which  our  country  has  produced.  It  is  to  American  art 
what  Ruskin's  "Modern  Painters"  was  to  the  art  of  England. 

The  book  is  divided  into  two  general  divisions.  The  second 
consists  of  practical  instructions  in  the  technique  of  art.  It  em- 
braces a  system  of  methods  which  is  the  outgrowth  of  the 
Principles  laid  down  in  the  first  part  of  the  book.  Concerning 
this  latter  section  the  present  reviewer  is  incompetent  to  pass 
judgment. 

The  first  division  of  the  book  is  an  interpretation  of  the 
principles  underlying  its  methods.  These  Principles  are  drawn 
from  the  Beautiful  Order  of  the  Universe  itself.  They  are  ap- 
prehended as  Cosmic  principles.  They  are  discovered  through 
the  spiritual  interpretation  of  nature.  Nature  is  seen  to  be  not 
a  cunning  mechanism,  but  a  Vital  Organism.  Life  itself  is  seen 
to  be  the  work  of  the  Great  Artist,  ever  seeking  to  mould  all 
things  into  forms  of  Beauty.  The  Soul-of-the-Universe  is  divin- 
ed asanlnfinite-Spirit-of-Beauty — which  is  one  with  the  Infinite- 
.Spirit-of-Truth-and-Goodness.  Art  is  the  interpreler  of  the 
essential  Being  of  all  creation !     Its  visions  are  revelations ! 

In  this  interpretation  of  the  Beautiful  Order  of  the  universe 
the  fecund  mind  of  the  writer  fairly  revels  in  the  overflowing 
wealth  of  suggestion  which  opens  to  him  on  every  hand,  as  the 
philosopher  and  poet  blend  in  the  study  of  science,  and  the 
artist  beholds  the  Visions  which  no  man  hath  ever  fully  seen,  or 
can  see. 

Thus  it  is  that  it  is  not  merely  the  painter  who  may  find  in- 
spiration in  this  noble  work,  but  the  clergyman,  the  teacher,  the 
thoughtful  man  and  woman,  in  every  line  of  life,  who  would 
fain  be  led  into  the  Interpreter's  House  and  see  the  Inner 
Meaning  of  things.  It  is  a  book  to  be  read  and  pondered  in 
ouiet  hours  of  deepest  thought,  when  the  soul  would  worship! 

In  reading  it  one  is  reminded  of  those  immortal  words  of 
Plato:  "He  who  has  been  instructed  thus  far  in  the  things  of 
Love,  and  who  has  learned  to  see  the  Beautiful  in  due  order  and 
succession;  when  he  comes  toward  the  end  will  suddenly  per- 
ceive a  Nature  all  wondrous  Beauty,  (and  this,  O  Socrates,  is 
the  final  cause  of  all  our  toils),    the  Nature  which  is,  in  the  first 

26 


place,  everlasting;  not  growing  or  decaying  or  waxing  or  wan- 
ing; in  the  next  place  not  fair  in  one  point  of  view  and  foul  in 
another;  or  at  one  time  and  in  one  relation,  or  in  one  place  fair, 
at  another  time  and  in  another  relation ;  or  at  another  place 
foul — as  if  fair  to  some  and  foul  to  others ;  *  *  *  hut  Beauty 
Only,  absolute,  separate,  simple,  and  everlasting;  which  without 
diminution  and  without  increase  or  any  chance,  is  imparted  to 
the  ever-growing  and  perishing  beauties  of  all  other  things.  He 
who  under  the  influence  of  true  Love,  rising  upward  from  these 
things,  begins  to  see  that  Beauty,  is  not  far  from  the  End!  And 
the  true  order  of  going,  or  being  led  by  the  things  of  Love,  is 
to  use  the  beauties  of  earth  as  steps  along  which  he  mounts 
upward  for  the  sake  of  that  other  Beauty.  *  *  *  going  to  all 
other  fair  forms,  and  from  fair  forms  to  fair  practices,  and  from 
fair  practices  to  fair  notions;  till  from  fair  notions  he  arrives  at 
the  notion  of  Absolute  Beauty,  and  at  last  knows  what  the  Es- 
sence of  Beauty  is!  *  *  *  This  is  that  Life  above  all  others  wdiich 
man  should  live,  in  the  contemplation  of  Beauty  Absolute ;  *  *  * 
But  if  a  man  had  eyes  to  see  the  true  Beauty — the  Divine 
Beauty — I  mean,  pure  and  clear  and  unalloyed,  not  clogged 
with  the  pollutions  of  mortality,  and  all  the  colors  and  varieties 
of  human  life — thither  looking  and  holding  converse  w^ith  the 
true  Beauty  divine  and  simple ;  do  you  not  see  that  in  that  com- 
munion only,  beholding  Beauty  with  the  eye  of  the  mind,  he 
will  be  enabled  to  bring  forth  not  images  of  beauty,  but 
REALITIES  (for  he  has  hold,  not  upon  an  image,  but  a 
Reality)  ;  and  bringing  forth  and  nourishing  true  virtue,  to  be- 
come the  Friend-of-God,  and  to  be  immortal — if  mortal  man 
may?" 

R.  HEBER  NEWTON,  D.  D. 
East  Hampton,  N.  Y. 

HI. 
By    Ex-GOV.    CHAMBERLAIN, 
(Ex-President   of   Bowdoin  University) 
I  offer  a  few^  observations,  more  personal  than  critical,  up- 
on the  remarkable  book,  "The  Gate  Beautiful,"  and  the  spirit 
and  motive  of  its  gifted  author. 

The  appearance  of  the  book — the  realization  of  an  almost 
lost  dream — brings  to  those  wdio  know  the  author's  long  and 
painful  struggle,  a  satisfaction  which  is  more  than  joy!  It  was 
my  fortune  and  privilege  to  enjoy  a  somewhat  familiar  ac- 
quaintance with  Professor  Stimson  in  some  of  his  most  strenu- 
ous years;  when  he  was  trying  to  lead  our  people  to  look  upon 
the  expression  of  Beauty  not  as  ''art  for  art's  sake,"  but  Art  for 
Life's  sake;  to  make  our  hearts  the  home  of  Beauty,  and  so 

27 


bring  beauty  into  our  homes;  to  encourage  and  inspire  gifted 
spirits  among  our  youth  to  get  at  the  Soul  of  things;  to  rouse 
the  artistic  spirit  of  our  country  to  work  out  its  worth — not  by 
servile  copying  of  the  work  of  others,  or  even  the  outward 
forms  of  nature  without  entering  into  their  motive  and  inward 
law;  but,  first  of  all,  by  studying  God's  thought  in  the  familiar 
things  to  which  our  earthly  sense  is  open;  following  up  to 
the  Center  and  source  and  law  of  all — the  Purpose  in  the  mind 
and  heart  of  God.  He  hoped  that  in  this  way,  by  the  intelligent 
recognition  of  the  loving  and  gracious  purposes  of  the  divine 
Revelation  through  the  Beautiful;  and  the  high  and  reverential 
Thought  it  would  awaken ;  our  people  would  gradually  be  re- 
leased from  this  habitual  sense  of  dependence  on  foreign  peo- 
ples for  artistic  work  or  workmen ;  and  develop     an     artistic 

culture  and  power  of  their  own,  based  on  Intelligence. 

Conscious  of  the  full  mastery  of  his  subject,  through  pro- 
found thought  and  diligent  use  of  ample  opportunities  for 
study;  deeply  assured  of  the  truth  of  his  view  and  the  value  of 
his  effort;  he  went  into  his  work  wdth  the  intensity  of  one  under 
divine  ordering  and  consecration.  To  him  this  revelation  of 
Truth  was  a  Religion.  It  was  certainly  to  many  a  novel  de- 
velopment of  the  principles  of  Art.  But  he  was  not  without 
recognition.  Hundreds  gathered  about  him — aggregating  thou- 
sands in  the  few  years  of  high  service  during  which  the  sensi- 
tiveness of  his  body  sustained  the  ardor  of  his  spirit;  and  today 
thousands  are  blessing  him  for  what  he  has  given,  what  he  has 
made  life  to  be  for  them ! 

It  seems  unaccountable  that  such  a  work  should  meet  dis- 
couragement— that  this  earnest  labor  to  reveal  those  powers  of 
the  Beautiful  which  should  raise  the  useful  into  higher  planes; 
to  make  the  artisan's  work  artistic,  and  thus  bring  one  of  God's 
best  blessings  to  the  cheer  and  uplifting  of  our  common  life ; 
must  needs  be  a  drama  of  sorrow,  almost  a  tragedy!  Among 
the  causes  of  this  may  be  noted  three  which  lie  in  different  lines, 
but  which  combined  to  make  against  him;  the  revolutionary 
character  of  his  attempt;  the  humility  of  his  methods;  the 
height  of  his  demonstration!  Habit  and  fashion  were  against 
him.  Our  leaders  of  "society"  sought  the  works  of  foreign 
masters — because  these  were  famous  and  because  they  were 
able  to  command  them.  Our  own  artists  were  likely  to  be 
deemed  inferior  if  not  incapable,  because  they  were  our  own. 
It  was  a  violent  presumption  to  claim  that  the  artistic  suscepti- 
bilities and  powers  of  our  people  could  be  developed  from  with- 
in themselves  and  their  own  environment,  by  seeking  them  at 
their  sources  in  the  natures  God  had  given  them ;  and  not  by 

28 


rounds  of  superficial  copying  and  servile  imitation. 

Then,  too,  this  new  teacher  started  from  the  humblest 
points,  and  drew  his  lessons  from  most  familiar  things.  Christ- 
like he  walked  among  the  lowly,  for  whom  especially  his  work 
was.  He  would  waken  the  slumbering  sense  and  potency  of 
Beauty  in  EVERY  soul,  and  thus  make  "common"  what  was 
thought  by  some  to  be  accounted  separate  and  rare  and  high. 

Then  again — and  a  reason  quite  different — this  demonstra- 
tion of  beauty  in  its  final  reaches  led  to  rare  atmospheres ;  to 
the  Real  of  abstruse  laws,  to  transcendent  Ideas  and  Ideals 
which  seemed  like  mystic  visions.  Those  who  could  not  attain 
these  heights,  or  long  follow  these  paths  excused  themselves 
on  the  ground  that  he  was  "visionary."  But  he  spoke  from  the 
Heights  of  life,  and  not  from  its  dead  levels.  Every  great 
prophet  and  seer  and  preacher  has  been  accounted  "mad"  or 
mentally  disordered,  because  he  saw  things  (not  as  sense- 
steeped  men  see  them)  but  as  they  are  in  the  Eyes-of-God.  The 
discouragement  that  at  times  overtook  the  master  led  him  to 
size  upon  companionship  and  sympathy  as  if  they  were  dispos- 
ers of  life  and  death !  In  such  society  he  gave  himself  peace 
and  freedom.  And  what  visions  were  these  for  the  beholder ! 
Ever  cherished,  ever  active  powers  in  the  soul  and  character  of 
a  privileged  few,  are  those  familiar  talks  of  his  at  a  humble  soc- 
ial board,  in  long  evenings,  drawn  towards  the  day;  taking  up 
some  simple  object  and  resolving  in  deepening  scale  its  ever 
finer  essences ;  rising  with  it  to  a  soaring  flight,  with  steady 
wing  towards  the  supreme  source — till  in  that  assumption  both 
were  lost  in  the  light  of  Heaven. 

After  such  discourses  the  hearers  would  beseech  the  master 
to  "write  a  book" — to  set  forth  his  whole  demonstration  in 
logical  development,  from  principle  to  application,  and  to  bring 
in  this  wealth  of  illustration  to  give  color,  richness,  and  charm. 
Long  years  passed,  and  he  himself  had  almost  passed  from  life, 
and  this  wish  seemed  to  have  ended  in  a  dream. 

But  now  comes  the  surprise  of  this  Magnificent  Book,  itself 
a  "Work-of-Art,"  not  only  in  the  fulness  and  richness  of  illus- 
tration, but  in  all  its  details  of  "make-up" — paper,  type,  print- 
ing, page,  and  margin ;  even  the  arrangement  of  the  type  upon 
the  page — all  worthy  of  the  subject  and  its  treatment! 

It  is  more  than  a  splendid  book,  reflecting  light  from  every 
point  and  phase!  It  is  a  broad  book,  with  a  reach  and  richness 
of  suggestion  which  possibly  obscures  the  continuity  and  close- 
ness of  its  logical  development.  It  is  a  profound  book,  holding 
to  rigorous  sequences  of  method,  studying  things  in  the  order 
of  their  deepening  revelations,  and  comprehending  them  from 

29 


the  standpoint  of  their  Central-Law !  Every  step  of  this  wonder- 
ful way  seems  the  fitting  place  for  final  rest;  but  the  course  is 
still  onward,  the  vision  opens  still  outward — which  in  truth  is 
Inward;  the  ever-widening  Harmonies  concentric  to  some 
Innermost  Law;  the  far  symphonies,  waves  and  weavings  of 
the  outflow  of  some  Central  Heart! 

This  book  is  the  outcome,  the  flower  and  fruit,  or  rather  the 
refined  Essence,  the  Transfiguration,  of  all  the  experiences  of 
the  author's  life — vision,  aspiration,  study,  toil,  mastery,  out- 
giving, sorrow,  struggle,  self-renunciation,  overpassing  faith ! 
Tones  of  all  these  run  through  the  book — the  last  triumphant 
one — Steadfast  Loyalty-to-Truth ! 

The  range  of  this  argument  traverses  the  deep  places  of 
physical  law,  such  as  were  known  to  the  author  of  the  old 
Book-of-Wisdom,  when  he  affirmed:  "By  Measure  and  Weight 
and  Number  hast  Thou  ordered  all  things."  This  is  a  region 
of  Marvels!  Look  at  the  drawings  in  this  book  before  us;  the 
waking  motions  of  the  formless  mist  of  matter  in  spirals  and 
volutes  and  tangents;  the  magnificence  of  the  star  crystals;  the 
spiritual  grace  of  the  voice  flowers !  And  what  marvelous  Rela- 
tions must  there  be,  when  the  far  attractions  which  form  the 
beauty  and  perfection  of  the  orbits  of  the  worlds  are  determin- 
ed according  to  the  relations  and  ratios  of  square  and  cubes  of 
distance  I 

It  is  not  strange  that  other  seers  of  the  Order  which  makes 
the  Beauty  ofthe  Universe,  have  named  it  "divine."  I  read  the 
thoughts  of  God  after  Him,"  was  the  cry  of  Kelper  when  he  un- 
rolled this  secret  of  the  orbs.  He  saw  still  more,  and  was  called 
"visionary,"  too,  because  tracing  in  the  vibrations  of  (what  we 
call)  "matter"  the  deep  interrelations  of  Form,  Color  and 
Sound,  he  sought  to  reveal  a  Sj^stem  of  Celestial  Harmonies, 
depending  on  the  varying  velocities  of  the  planets ;  of  which 
there  could  be  but  one  auditor — He  at  the  Center  of  all !  How 
do  we  know  this  is  not  True?  If  our  sense  take  in  the  dull  hum 
of  a  flying  cannon-ball,  why  may  there  not  be  other  senses  so 
attuned  that  they  can  hear  "the  Song  of  the  Morning  Stars" — 
higher  revelation  of  the  same  Law? 

It  is  with  such  things  in  their  more  delicate  aspects  that 
this  book  deals.  To  take  in  the  scope  of  this  great  argument 
and  demonstration  is  in  the  largest  sense  a  liberal  education ! 
To  look  through  the  vista  of  this  Gate  Beautiful  is  to  catch  a 
glimpse  of  the  New-Heavens  and  the  New-Earth,  and  almost  of 
the  Beatific-\"ision ! 

Ex-GOV.  JOSHUA  L.  CHAAIBEDLAIN, 
Brunswick,  ]\Iaine. 

30 


IV. 
By  JOAQUIN  MILLER,    (Poet  and  Pioneer) 

Never  had  the  world  waited  so  eagerly  for  a  Great  Book  as 
it  waited  for  "The  Gate  Beautiful,"  and  its  patience  has  been 
abundantly  rewarded.  John  Ward  Stimson  has  given  us  the 
•Greatest  and  best  Book — outside  of  the  Bible  and  Shakespeare — 
that  the  world  has  ever  seen;  narly  five  hundred  broad,  double- 
columned  pages,  and  nearly  five  hundred  marvelous  illustra- 
tions! The  wonder  is  that  one  man,  in  his  one  lifetime,  could 
do  so  much  and  do  it  so  perfectly ! 

"The  Gate  Beautiful"  is  a  profound  book— profoundly 
scientific,  profoundly  yet  broadly  religious;  a  deep  and  wide 
book;  yet  so  beautifully  written  that  it  is  more  entertaining  and 
more  easily  read  than  any  modern  romance.  The  thousands  of 
illustrations,  some  of  them  reproductions  of  master  creations, 
others  original  or  reproductions  from  Nature's  gallery,  are  like 
fresh  wells  and  springs  by  the  w^ay,  where  we  are  refreshed  and 
informed  at  every  point!  "The  Gate  Beautiful"  is  truly  the 
Book-of-Beauty.  To  know  this  book  is  to  know  the  story  and 
glory  of  Art,  from  the  morning  time  of  civilization  to  the  pres- 
ent hour!  And  more  than  this,  it  takes  the  reader  into  the 
studio  of  the  Divine  Artist-Artisan  and  reveals  "God-at-Work" 
with  crystal  and  seed,  with  leaf  and  blossom !  It  shows  as  does 
no  other  work  the  order,  symmetry,  and  design,  as  well  as  the 
glory  of  color,  in  Nature's  vast  gallery ! 

The  central  idea  of  "The  Gate  Beautiful"  is  The  Beautiful! 
Of  course,  there  is  nothing  in  Nature  that  is  not  beautiful — or 
trying  to  be  beautiful;  but  this  book  is  a  string  of  jewels  from 
the  deepest  seas  of  Art,  from  the  very  dawn  to  the  present  day ! 

The  Bible  says:  "And  the  Lord  planted  a  garden  eastward 
in  Eden,  wherein  he  caused  every  tree  to  grow  that  is  pleasant 
to  the  sight  and  good  for  food." 

Observe  now,  the  Lord  God  first  considered  the  trees  that 
are  "pleasant  to  the  sight."  The  trees  that  were  "good  for 
food"  came  last  in  the  estimation  of  God.  And  this  is  Nature! 
The  one  continuous  effort  of  Nature  is  to  bring  forth  that  which 
is  "pleasant  to  the  Sight" ;  to  give  us  "The  Gate  Beautiful." 

So  long  as  we  seek  the  Gate  Beautiful — the  Way  that  God 
passed  and  planted  in  the  beginning — just  so  long  will  we  con- 
tinue to  go  forward  toward  Perfection.  But  the  day  we  turn 
aside  to  picture  goblins  and  monsters,  as  did  the  Chinese,  we 
shall  surely  die ! 

This  book,  "The  Gate  Beautiful,"  is  to  my  mind  the  whole- 
somest  and  most  needed  book  that  modem  genius,  research,  and 

31 


persistent  industry  have  produced.  .No  cultured  or  refiued  fam- 
ily, certainly  no  library,  in  the  land  can  afiford  to  be  without 
it. 

JOAQUIN  MILLER. 
The  Heisfhts,  Oakland,  Cal. 

V. 

By  EDWIN  MARKHAM  (Poet  and  Critic) 

Professor  John  Ward  Stimson's  "The  Gates  Beautiful" 
gives  us  glimpses  of  the  Religion-of-Art  and  of  the  Art-or-Relig- 
ion.  It  is  a  thing  of  joy  to  look  at  and  to  ponder  over.  It  is  a" 
rich  book,  elaborately  made,  crowded  with  vital  matter;  a  book 
for  artists  and  all  lovers  of  art.  I  fear  that  in  this  age,  when 
tons  of  trashy  books  are  whirling  from  the  presses,  that  this  fine 
volume  may  be  overlooked  by  the  many;  but  I  am  hoping  that 
it  will  be  sought  after  by  the  discerning  few  who  are  seeking 
for  a  unifying  Principle-in-life,  and  its  Arts.  "The  Gate  Beauti- 
ful" is  the  utterance  of  an  earnest  thinker.  This  work  is  more 
than  a  book —  it  is  a  Man's  Soul! 

EDWIN  MARKHAM. 
Westerleigh,  Staten  Island,  N.  Y. 

THE  GATE  BEAUTIFUL  was  published  by  A.  Brandt  & 
Co.,  Trenton,  N.  J.,  Init  was  later  transferred  (to  the  agency  of 
Principal  E.  A.  RUM  LEY,  Rolling  Prairie,  Indiana)  by  its 
Author  and  Owner. 

It  can  be  obtained  in  two  Editions  (Both  from  identical 
plates) 

The  STUDENTS  (Cheaper)  Edition,  $2.00. 

The  ARTISTS  (Finer)  Edition,  $5.00. 

Address  direct  E.  A.  RUM  LEY,  Rolling  Prairie,  Indiana. 

Or  for  fuller  details,  the  Author,  Professor  John  W.  Stimson, 
(present  home)  San  Buena  Ventura,  California. 


32 


RETURN  T( 


This  book  ij 

o 

Renewed 


-^ 


s< 


REC 


-m 


RETURN  TO  the  circulation  desk  of  any 
University  of  California  Library 
or  to  the 
NORTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 
Bldg.  400,  Richmond  Field  Station 
University  of  California 
Richmond,  CA  94804-4698 

ALL  BOOKS  MAY  BE  RECALLED  AFTER  7  DAYS 

•  2-month  loans  may  be  renewed  by  callina 
(510)642-6753  ^ 

•  1 -year  loans  may  be  recharged  by  bringing 
books  to  NRLF  ^  ^ 

•  Renewals  and  recharges  may  be  made  4 
days  prior  to  due  date. 


DUE  AS  STAMPED  BELOW 


30S1^  ff 


U%  7 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


